Neil Young Archives Volume 1 (1963 - 1972) 10 DVD
by Neil Young
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DVD details
Actor: Neil YoungDirector: Neil Young
Brand: YOUNG,NEIL
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), DTS 5.1; English (Original Language), DTS 5.1
Format: Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, THX
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 1200 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-06-02
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Reprise Records
DVD Reviews of Neil Young Archives Volume 1 (1963 - 1972) 10 DVD
DVD Review: The Neil Young Museum (under construction) is now Open to the Public...
Summary: 5 Stars
*This review pertains to the DVD edition*
Archives 1 is such a massive and sprawling collection that, in effectively reviewing it, one sets oneself a daunting challenge. It utterly transcends any collection of music previously marketed and is a completely unique experience, not only of an artist but also unto itself.: it is essentially a private tour of a virtual Neil Young museum-- still under construction. Indeed, it is difficult to keep in mind at times that this is only volume one and three or four more are supposed to follow it at some point. I feel that Archives 1, being the first to come out, will be on the receiving end of the brunt of the disappointment that inevitably comes for some when they have had twenty years to wait for and hype something up in their minds. There has been a lot of confusion and uncertainty throughout the time of volume one's production as to the exact nature of its contents, and some clearly wanted and expected more on the rarities end. I sympathize to some degree--I'd never say no to Neil pulling something of his vaults. However, the Archives isn't designed to be solely a rarities collection, or solely a retrospective of previously released material, and anyone approaching it from either of those perspectives likely won't be completely satisfied with it. The best summation of the NYA1 is is in fact found on the title page of the 236-page book that comes with the blu-ray and DVD editions:
Neil Young (formerly of Buffalo Springfield) Reprise Recording Artist (1945-1972.)
Archives 1 is a near-exhaustive chronicle of this period of Neil Young's musical career, beginning with his first known recordings from late 1963 with his first band, The Squires, and going straight through up to material recorded for Journey Through the Past and Harvest, released in 1972--hits; album tracks; live recordings; rarities from various side projects; previously unreleased studio outtakes; demos and home tapes--the whole shebang. Spread across ten discs. In a very large box.
In fact, that was my first thought when I opened the package upon its arrival at my house: the box was even bigger than it had looked in all the pictures I'd seen and than I'd expected it to be. It's a rectangular thing that strongly carries the appearance of a home-decorated filing cabinet, covered as it is with reproductions of newspaper cuttings and personal photographs, and the words "Neil Young" scrawled across it huge letters, obviously intended to look hand-painted. It's typical of Neil's preference of late for packaging that looks homemade and it's also quite something to behold on a shelf. But thankfully it's designed for user convenience as well: unlike some other reviewers, I can't say I've had any problems with the packaging. It's sturdy and protects the materials within. In addition, it's split into several compartments, allowing the user to access one part of it at a time without having to hulk the entire thing around: one houses the discs (thankfully assembled in their own box, not unlike a scaled down version of the big one, so you can transport them from one place to another when you don't want to deal with the rest of the box); one the 236-page book; another holds a poster; and the final one carries a small box with some unadvertised bonus goodies. I'll discuss all of these in turn, starting with the most important thing: the music.
The discs are arranged in chronological order, according to when everything was recorded. Each of the first nine discs, when played, automatically displays a main menu. From here, you may click Play All in order to hear all of the tracks on the disc in running order or explore a number of other available options:
The song selection is in the format of a filing cabinet, complete with sound effect as it opens. All of the song titles are listed on tabs attached to portfolios and if you highlight and click one of the tabs, you will open the song's "file." Inside these files, not only can play the track indicated on the tab--to the visual accompaniment of the original record or tape-- there is every variety of memorabilia imaginable (all in virtual format of course): stills; newspaper and other press cuttings; drafts of lyrics and sheet music; letters--anything you can possibly link to the song in question and Neil's life as he was writing it. For the avid fan, there is nothing quite like looking at vintage previously unavailable photographs and original drafts of songs like Heart of Gold, Cowgirl in the Sand, or the Loner. If you are especially fortunate, a file has an audio or videotape log, from which can be accessed very excerpts of Neil and others discussing the various aspects of the song in question and compiling the Archives and old video clips, often including live performances of the songs and footage of Neil and his various backing musicians recording them in the studios. There are some other videos--fairly random things, like Neil finding a bootlegged CSN&Y album in a record store and complains to the manager, which was being covered by a camera crew for no apparent reason but is an entertaining little vignette nonetheless. The other main feature of these discs is the timeline feature, also accessible through the main menu. It's just that-- a timeline of Neil Young's life up to 1972, beginning with his birth (November 12th, 1945) up to Journey Through the past, displayed in front of you on the screen. Various hidden extra features can be found by clicking highlighted thumbtacks along the timeline. These access further rare video and some of the hidden tracks (again, to be brought up in further detail later.) The only exceptions to this format are the two performance series discs released prior to NYA1: they include everything found on the DVDs issued with the original deluxe editions of those releases and retain that format.
There are 128 audio tracks in total. The highlights are numerous and will vary according to your taste. For me, much of the best material is on the first disc, Early Years 1963-65. All of this is rare and most of it previously unreleased. There are tracks recorded with the Squires and very intimate home demos, some featuring Neil alone, some with his friend Comrie Smith backing him up. Highlights include Neil's first released single, from 1963: The Aurora/The Sultan, with the Squires, as well as previously unavailable tracks: I Wonder (two versions), another instrumental, Mustang, Hello Lonely Woman, Ballad of Peggy Grover, The Rent is Always Due, Extra Extra, I'm a Man (and I Can' Cry) and There Goes my Babe. Another interesting number is I'll Love You Forever-- not a particularly brilliant song but nicely produced, especially for the times. All of these are charming old recordings of a great artist in his genesis, as well as some good old-school rock 'n' roll.
Elsewhere, there are delightful Buffalo Springfield rarities: alternate Mr. Soul (including a bonus video clip of a performance), Down Down Down, One More Sign, and Slowly Burning, a really beautiful instrumental not previously available. Other highlights include the 1969 acoustic Riverboat Show, Wonderin' from the After the Goldrush sessions, alternates of various tracks from the Topanga Canyon sessions, such as Birds, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, and an absolutely fantastic alternate mix of I've Been Waiting for You. The North Country disc is a personal favorite of mine (that's my name for Neil's country music now--North Country.) I have always liked the songs on Harvest and this disc gives much additional insight to their creation, as well as releasing for the first time outtakes like the studio versions of Journey Through the Past and Bad Fog of Loneliness. There's also Words (Between the Lines of Age), taken from the Journey Through the Past album. It's not technically previously unreleased but Journey Through the Past, having never been released on CD, is such a rare album these days that it's not too far removed and, as such an excellent rendition of one of my favorite Harvest songs, and a nice glimpse into the recording of that album, I'm glad it was included here. The other thing you'll find lots of on North Country is lots of video: Neil and the Stray Gators recording songs like Alabama and Are You Ready for the Country? in the barn at Broken Arrow ranch; Neil sitting on the lawn outside the barn listening to a recording of Words playing back, offering some colorful commentary on it. All great stuff for the hardcore fan such as myself to see. There are also insightful videos of the recording of A Man Needs a Maid and There's a World with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Truth be known, there's great video all throughout this set: I forget which disc it's on, but there's a great acoustic-guitar only performance of The Loner and Cinnamon Girl in medley and on Topgana 3 (disc six) Neil plays various After the Goldrush era songs (as well as On the Way Home from the last Springfield album) with CSN&Y. There is also video on the first disc of Neil opening the letters he sent to himself to secure copyrights on his first compositions back in 1963. The video itself was taken in 2004, and is one of several embedded throughout the set recorded during the making of the NYA1. These videos offer glimpses into its long production (some dating back to February, 1997) and are as invaluable and worthwhile in their own way as the performance clips. These videos are some of my personal favorite elements of the Archives.
A lot of these things are hidden from the user, though. Neil intended for the Archives to be an interactive experience and it certainly is, so my advice is to do a little exploring: play with the arrow buttons on your remote a lot and try highlighting places even when you don't immediately see anything to click on. You might end up finding something you didn't know was there. I don't really mind this personally; when I find something, I usually commit it to my memory as being there so as not to have to search high and low to see a great clip again. But I can see how it wouldn't be to everyone's taste. One of my favorite hidden things, found through a thumbtack on the timeline, is a selection of audio excerpts from the last Buffalo Springfield concert ever. It's a piece of pure history (and pure rock 'n' roll) and really adds to the worth.
In the case of the hidden tracks, some of these are little gems in their own right as well so try and locate as many as possible. (Hint: look for the aforementioned thumbtacks on the timeline and roach clips attached to either the left or right of individual song files...) Also note that, other than the Massey Hall and Filmore East presentations, when playing the songs, what you see on your screen is the original tape or record spinning around, with various memorabilia strewn around. I sometimes like to keep the book handy for something to look at while playing the DVDs, but in truth some of the visual accompaniments to the songs are atmospheric, evoking the feeling of actually sitting in Neil's studio listening to the original masters, or playing the original reel-to-reel tapes he recorded back in Canada in the mid-'60s. In the case of the Riverboat, you actually see the tapes playing at the venue, which is quite an interesting presentation. It's almost as if Neil is giving you the tapes without actually giving them to you, if that makes any sense. I think, given the file cabinet packaging, this was part of the intent. There are some other touches to the visuals as well, subtle things like the incense lit during Slowly Burning, which is really atmospheric.
Sonically, everything is absolutely superb on DVD and I imagine even more so on blu-ray. This is particularly a breath of fresh air coming off of the 1990 CDs. I've longed to hear tracks like Soldier, Last Trip to Tulsa, and all the Springfield tracks sounding this good for a while. The improvement really does make the repurchasing of previously of previously available tracks worth it. That and the fact that Archives 1 puts them in a completely new perspective, surrounded by memorabilia and other archival materials that relate to them, in a comprehensive anthology of Neil's work from this period.
There is also the repetition of the Filmore East and Massey Hall discs to consider. It's great material nonetheless and in my case, I can only say that I had only previously owned the CD-only versions of these albums so I did get to see all the video anew. Otherwise, I'd probably be a bit irritated as well. Otherwise, the sound is expectedly much improved on DVD and there's a great amount of video on Massey Hall and nice stills on Filmore East. A 16-minute Cowgirl in the Sand live at the Filmore is actually one of the greatest highlights for me of the entire collection.
The last disc (labeled disc nine due to a rather bizarre number sequence that places the first disc as number 0) is Neil's 1974 film Journey Through the Past, reissued apparently as a bonus for DVD and blu-ray buyers. It's strange but I find most if it rather enjoyable in an absurd way. It starts with Neil sitting in with a radio broadcaster listening to his old records being played on the air, reminiscing. That's pretty straightforward, but it gets weirder as it goes. It's a bit like Neil Young's version of the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour-- odd characters and disconnected sequences abound and most of them are somehow entertaining. There's nice footage from CSN&Y concerts, particularly of Southern Man, and the sequence in which Neil sings Soldier could stand on its own as a nice music video. Towards the end, Neil veers towards some message involving Christianity. Exactly what this may be is never made completely clear, but it makes for some entertaining images of black-robed clansmen galloping on horseback across a beach holding up crosses, a somewhat infamous segment seen in advertisements for it. Journey... isn't the greatest highlight of Archives 1 and will likely interest only the biggest fans but it's interesting viewing, especially in the 21st century as it is definitely dated to the early '70s world in which it was produced. Ultimately, though, after so many years of almost complete unavailability, it's nice to have this in fans' grasps again. ( I had never seen it before (though I've loved Soldier for years, having heard it on Decade) and hearing that it was going to be included in Archives 1 excited me greatly at the time and I'm still pleased it's here. Although it's not something I'd expect a lot of people to want to watch too often after seeing it once, it is nonetheless a good addition to this anthology.
The Archives book is also a treasure in and of itself-- it's 236 pages and exclusive to DVD and blu-ray owners and it's very unfortunate that CD owners cannot be privy to it (though I understand a separate book comes with that edition.) I knew it would be something as soon as I opened the box and saw the cover--a rather abstract drawing depicting a tree with the sun beating down it (apparently modeled after one of Neil's own journals.) Essentially, it's a scrapbook. The only form of narrative comes through newspaper and press cuttings and a few quotes of Neil here and there. The rest is all photos; original drafts; sheet music; and just about any other sort of memorabilia you can think of. There are absolutely no liner notes-- so if you require that sort of thing, you won't enjoy the book all that much, but personally, I say "Thank God." They're most often useless junk, designed for purposes of advertising and self-aggrandizement anyway. I don't need the history spoon-fed to me by a smooth-talking "rock journalist". I find it much more effective most of the time to let the artifacts tell their own story, and in this case they do so brilliantly, from Neil's origins in Omemmee, Canada, to the height of his popularity and commercial success with Harvest. Sure, you have to think a bit to follow the story, but--call me weird--I like applying my mind to things. It tends to enrich most experiences. I also feel that the scrapbook memorabilia approach is a lot more direct towards the viewer-- it makes for a better evocation of the period and events than the looking through the historical kaleidoscope I find most liner notes offer. The book also just makes for good accompaniment while playing the DVDs if you want relief from spinning records. You'll notice a lot of artifacts reproduced on the DVDs are also found in the book. I like having them rounded up in one place to study, though. The book also includes charts and listings of information on the all the tracks, including the hidden ones. You also get the basic info in the song files but it's nice to have it one place to look up. It's generally less of a hassle than going to a particular file to get a particular piece of information. Included in this is a "Selected Tracks from the Archives" chart included, which gives you an idea of what Neil has in his personal archives versus what he has chosen to release. If the chart is anywhere near complete, not a lot was left out and blu-ray owners will likely see some of what was excluded via BD live updates at some point.
The remaining materials are more-or-less bonuses, and pleasant ones too. The poster is a picture of the same filing cabinet seen in the song selection option on the DVD, though rather than just the sections you see on each to DVD it's the full thing from 1963-72. It's very long and thin--in fact, it's the longest poster I've ever seen. I like its uniqueness, though, and I'd like to display it, but it's still sitting in its slot in the box as of right now because I'm not sure how to: I certainly have no frame to fit the thing and the expense of having one made to fit the proper dimensions would be entirely too expensive. I'll probably have to laminate and hang it at some point, though I'm not sure where I'd get enough lamination sheet or how expensive that would be. Still, it's a neat poster (and makes for a good collector's item), just difficult to display.
Finally, there's the box of extras I talked about earlier. It's a black cigar box in appearance and is found in the forth and final slot when you lift the lid of the big box. Inside are three things: a free copy of the Live at Canterbury House CD/DVD set issued last autumn (DVD for improved audio; no performance footage), a small reproduction speaking pad from the Whiskey-A-Go-Go, a venue Neil used to play in his very early years, included for no apparent reason other than to share the witty line written on it Neil's reproduced handwriting: "If you're a speaking pad, why don't you say something?"-- kind of lame but funny at the same--and of course there is the free MP3 download card. The CD/DVD, of which I had already owned a copy as I suspect did most buyers, is of little use to me but it was free. I won't waste time and precious energy complaining about a free backup copy of a great album. I guess it was thrown in for completeness' sake, which is appreciable.The speaking pad is a little joke, another good collector's item, and nothing more, though I certainly appreciate Neil sharing his wit with us. The MP3 card has caused enough brouhaha: the download website had some technical problems for the first week or so after the release but as far as I know, that's cleared up and DVD and blu-ray owners can now download the 128 Archives 1 tracks free of charge. It's convenient for the DVD or blu-ray owner in acquiring the Archives tracks (hidden ones not included) for on-the-go listening without paying twice and I think the MP3s sound good for MP3s. But I don't equate the experience to listening to or playing the Archives. The MP3s are simply for listening to tracks from the Archives. For me, listening to or playing the Archives means the isolated and unique experience playing the DVDs, listening to the music, browsing through the rare video and audio clips and all the memorabilia at my leisure. I recommend use of the MP3s for on-the-move listening, as they can easily and conveniently be put on ipods and CDs and I really appreciate the flexibility Neil offers with this option.
Ultimately, the Neil Young Archives experience is a completely unique one. Everything here looks and sounds great, the rarities are wonderful to have and what was previously readily available is set in a new context by the whole Archives presentation. This is really the Neil Young museum--it contains every sort of artifact you could possibly thing of. With additional volumes in the works though, this Neil Young Museum is very much under construction. But all of that will come to us with time and patience. For the moment, I am pleased to just to be able to tour the part that is completed whenever I feel like it. This is not only a brilliant anthology of a great artist but a marvelous technological advancement, setting new standards for music box sets and presenting a completely original way to appreciate an artist. I strongly recommend that all dedicated fans who have not done already done so should purchase either the DVD or blu-ray edition of this as soon as they can. It's a unique experience that cannot possibly be attained with the audio-only presentation of CD. I think most fans would regret missing out on it and it's a fantasy-turned-reality for many of them.
And this is only the first nine years!
Description of Neil Young Archives Volume 1 (1963 - 1972) 10 DVD
Genre: Music Video - Pop/Rock
Rating: NR
Release Date: 2-JUN-2009
Media Type: DVD
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